Country music singer Jason Aldeon is facing an intense wave of backlash after his song, “Try That In A Small Town”, went viral online, prompting many people to accuse him of dog-whistle racism. The song sets footage of Black Lives Matter protests alongside lyrics like: “Try that in a small town / See how far ya make it down the road / Around here, we take care of our own.” The song continues: “Cuss out a cop, spit in his face / Stomp on the flag and light it up / Yeah, ya think you’re tough.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The BLM protests were a direct reaction to the murder of African-American man George Floyd by a white police officer. The clips in the music video, which also include an attempted convenience store robbery and other apparent crimes, alternate with shots of Aldean and his band performing in the public square of Columbia, Tennessee. To make things worse, the video is shot in front of the Maury County Courthouse, which at times appears to be on fire with images of burning US flags projected onto it. It’s the same building where a mob hanged 18-year-old African-American Henry Choate from the balcony in 1927. Columbia is also the site of an infamous 1946 race riot that nearly resulted in the lynching of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall. Another lyric goes: “Got a gun that my granddad gave me / They say one day they’re gonna round up / Well that s--- might fly in the city / Good luck.” Country Music Television (CMT) confirmed Tuesday that it had pulled the video from rotation. Social media has been ablaze with the controversy for much of the last week. Democrat state representative for Tenessee, Justin Jones, called the song "heinous", and a "shameful vision of gun extremism and vigilantism". One user said that if Lil Durk, a black American rapper, made a response to Aldean's video called "Try That On The South Side of Chicago", it would likely be denounced as violent. Others shared videos explaining exactly why people are interpreting the song as dog-whistle racism. Aldean has stood by the song, saying: “There is not a single lyric in the song that references race or points to it – and there isn’t a single video clip that isn’t real news footage – and while I can try and respect others to have their own interpretation of a song with music – this one goes too far.” Needless to say, the people defending him are all the ones you might expect. Top Republicans have jumped to Aldean’s aid, including former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis. “Jason Aldean is a fantastic guy who just came out with a great new song. Support Jason all the way. MAGA!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social account. The conservative influencer Ben Shapiro posted a video to his YouTube channel titled “Jason Aldean REFUSES To Get Cancelled”, in which he discusses the controversy and takes Aldean’s side. Most recently, Aldean has been filmed at a concert over the weekend defending the song further. He said: “What I am is a proud American.” “I love our country. I want to see it restored to what it once was before all this bulls*** started happening to us.” “I love my country, I love my family, and I will do anything to protect that. I can tell you that.” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Meeting your other half's parents can be daunting, so you can only imagine how intimidating it must be if their father is none other than, Sylvester Stallone. His two daughters recently appeared on the Giggly Squad podcast, where they opened up about the famed actor being a "savant" when it comes to their dating lives. "In one area, he writes most of our breakup texts," Sistine confessed, while Sophia chimed in and offered her advice to fellow women: "I highly suggest that girls should go up to their dad and have their dad write a breakup text because men know men." Sistine went on to add that her exes have never been mad at her honesty from such text messages. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter When it comes to bringing a new man home, the pair admitted the Rocky star isn't the most welcoming. When Sistine thinks she's found a "good egg" and opts to introduce him to her father, "he's always standoffish, stands in the corner, doesn’t say anything." Sophia jokingly added that he "always has a cigar" during the initial meets. “I go, ‘Why do you do that?’ And he goes, 'I can tell within the first four minutes of meeting him if he’s going to last or not, and so I’m not going to waste my time,'" she continued. "And he’s right every time." That said, the pair disclaimed that the star gets along with their younger sister's partner. "He only likes my sister’s boyfriend," Sophia said. "He’s kind of got the thing with the watches, and he likes polo… If you can relate on things with him, he’ll like you." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Carl from Pixar's hit movie 'Up' is back, and everyone is preparing to be in tears all over again. The sweet old man is reappearing in a new short film that sees him finally go on a date following the death of his wife, which was explored in the original movie. Of course, Doug the dog will be there for the ride too, advising Carl on whether the chocolates he bought for his date are good enough. Carl's date is released on 16 June. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

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